


Wakanda Sunset

by innogueira



Series: Wherever I go, I’m coming back [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bearded Steve Rogers, Contemplation, Domestic, Domestic Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Happy Bucky Barnes, M/M, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sad, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Wakanda Rendezvous, armless Bucky, steve rogers needs to chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 20:36:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14528685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innogueira/pseuds/innogueira
Summary: "Maybe one day. One day Steve will finally let himself rest. He knows he can’t fix the world, but he will try. He knows he can’t try to hold it together forever. He knows that when that day comes, Bucky will be there."Steve goes back to Wakanda after every mission. Steve never stays for long, but he always comes back to Bucky.





	Wakanda Sunset

“The Princess is right,”

Steve stops and glances over at Bucky, who’s staring out at the sunset in front of them, light colours bouncing out soft features. Steve can’t help but stare. He’s been doing a lot of that since Bucky has been awake. He can’t help himself. This is Bucky, and Steve finally allows himself to enjoy it, enjoy him.

As much as Steve wanted Bucky around, he had to admit staying had been the best decision Bucky has made recently. He could see that now, in the way Bucky just was. There was no tension coming from him, unlike Bucharest, where Steve could feel in his own muscles how much Bucky was holding in. He wasn’t hiding now, he was living, and he looked good.

His silence must have sounded like confusion, so Bucky clarifies, his eyes never leaving the reflection of the sun against the still water of the lake, “The sunset in Wakanda really is the most beautiful..” 

Bucky doesn’t move from the tree trunk he’s leaning back against, the covered stump brushing against Steve’s shoulder. He’s content, and he feels safe. Not exposing his weak side is just natural, but Steve feels special, knowing Bucky is comfortable enough to just sit there with him like this. So open, so vulnerable.

It’s not much. They don’t do much when Steve visits in between rogue missions. They sometimes just sit in each other’s presence and it’s enough. Other times Bucky chuckles as Steve tries to herd goats together and fails miserably. It’s enough.

Steve hasn’t had time to breathe since he got out of the ice. He went out in the middle of a war and woke up to fight new ones every day. Steve never asked for much, not even when he was young and just wished he could play as much as the rest of the kids without tiring himself out in half the time. He managed, though, Bucky used to sit down with him and rub his back while he tried to breathe properly. He never asked for much, but sometimes he wished he could ask for some rest.

Sitting there, looking at Bucky in the colourful sunset, seeing the serenity in his features, Steve feels like he got a taste of that. 

Steve knew himself. He’d never run away from a fight, so even if the world was kind enough to give him everything he asked for, Steve still couldn’t take it. He might be a criminal to the world, but Steve Rogers just can’t stop fighting the battles he knows the Accords won’t let the Avengers act on. Someone has to, so he will. Even if it means only getting a few days with Bucky every other week.

They’re enough, he thinks. In the world both of them were forced to be in, it’s enough for Steve. As soon as a mission is over and they scatter for a few days before updating the rest of the team, Steve flies to Wakanda and lays down in a cot next to Bucky and sleeps for as long as his body needs to recover from the latest fight. Sometimes it’s a few hours and he wakes up with the sunrise peaking in through the cloth blinds, sometimes he wake up and Bucky is sitting by the lake watching the sunset.

With King T’Challa’s blessing, he makes Wakanda his home base, coming back to that little hut right outside the city and just recharge. He and Bucky feed the goats, jog around the lake, challenge each other to see who can cut more wood faster, Did you really just ripped a log with your bare hands, Steve?, they talk, and sometimes they don’t talk at all.

Until Steve gets a call from Natasha and he’s jumping on the Quinjet to Venezuela, Kuala Lumpur, Lithuania, Scotland.

Steve couldn’t step down, but Bucky could. He did. He fought his fair share, mostly against his will, and he was done. No more fighting, he told Steve as soon as he came out of cryo, and Steve nodded, wrapping his arms around him. Bucky was back and Steve would do anything he asked.

Bucky stayed in Wakanda and he adapted quickly. If someone told him, pre Pearl Harbor, pre War in Europe, pre anything, really, that James Buchanan Barnes was going to have a farm, Steve would tell them to fuck off with a laugh. Yet, seeing Bucky with loose hair, a small smile on his lips as he fed goats, comfortable clothes, sometimes with traditional Wakandian robes, it feels like Bucky was meant to be there.

“They really are,” Steve said after a while, before finally taking eyes from Bucky and looking at the sunset. They’ve seen it plenty of times, always ending up sitting against that long tree trunk by the lake as the day came to a close. It really was beautiful, but Steve thought the moment was what made it so special.

Everything they went through, all the pain, all the suffering, they were able to sit there and just appreciate such a beautiful thing. Together. 

Maybe Steve didn’t need constant rest, to retire. Maybe he’ll never be able to stop, but he needs this. He needs these moments where he just doesn’t have to think about anything and he can just be Steve with Bucky. He doesn’t think he can be himself with anyone else. He admits he needs this and he is going to enjoy every little escapade he can get.

Even if they always come to an end sooner or later

“I’m going to Scotland tomorrow.. Wanda hasn’t checked in.” he says it so nonchalantly that Bucky finally tearing his eyes from the sunset doesn’t bother him. He always does this when Steve says it’s time to go again. He looks at Steve with those piercing blue eyes for a moment, so pale as the dim sunlight hits them from the side, and Steve would feel judgement if those eyes didn’t seem so understanding. Bucky knew, that Steve would never stop.

“The kids will be born when you come back. Leia is about to pop,” Steve came back, he always did, so Bucky acted like this was just another daily routine. Steve left, Steve will come back in a few days with dirty hair and a cut on his cheek. Standard. 

“Did you really call the goat Leia?” Steve shakes his head as he laughs. Of course Bucky, the biggest nerd he knows, called one of his pets Leia “You better hope the kids don’t come out ready to use the force against you,” and Steve might have watched the movie with Bucky on the computer Shuri made Bucky keep in the hut, the only modern piece of technology Bucky didn’t mind having. She liked to make a lot of jokes and the understanding of those involved them seeing a lot of movies. Steve still didn’t understand some of them.

Bucky grins mischievously, and Steve wishes one day he doesn’t feel the need to go out and fight anymore. “As if I’d let you name anything. You’re shit at naming stuff, Steve. You’d probably call it Beth or something equally horrible,”

There’s a fake gasp and Bucky slaps his thigh with a roll of his eyes. Steve grabs the hand before Bucky pulls it away and holds it there. Bucky lets out a breath and lets Steve lace their fingers over his thigh. His eyes go back to the sky and there’s no sun anymore, but there’s still enough light shining over Bucky and Steve can see how content he really is.

Steve smiles sadly.

Maybe one day. One day Steve will finally let himself rest. He knows he can’t fix the world, but he will try. He knows he can’t try to hold it together forever. He knows that when that day comes, Bucky will be there.

Maybe one day Steve will sit on that trunk alone, tears in his eyes because he missed that chance while he had it.

**Author's Note:**

> See? I can write more than just pure angst. If you don't think Steve sneaks out to Wakanda like Wanda goes to Scotland, you're just kidding yourself.  
> Find me on Tumblr @neswrites


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